New Zealand wins 5th straight vs Oracle in America's Cup

The Kiwis have revolutionised sailing in the 35th America's Cup, using "cyclors" who pedal to provide the power needed to control the boat's foils and towering "wing" sail.

"Full credit to our whole team - we've got an fantastic coaching staff here with the likes of Ray Davies and Murray Jones, really analysing everything they've been doing", he said afterwards.

We have an incredibly talented group of guys and were excited to get back out there and race again tomorrow,  he said.

In race eight, the Kiwis were even more dominant, completely outfoxing Team USA in pre-race manoeuvres to take a 14sec lead over the line.

Team New Zealand has won seven races but began with a negative point because Oracle won the qualifiers.

Oracle skipper Jimmy Spithill isn't helping his cause with mistakes.

"These guys sailed better".

The margin of 2 minutes, 4 seconds was the biggest of the match. "They made fewer mistakes and they deserved to win two races", Spithill said in a nod to the Kiwis.

"We're in a tough situation now. Now it's up to us to respond and react".

"We said last night we had a fair few things to work on and we addressed them today", said Burling. "We're going to come out and get stronger". Spithill was 30 when he won it in 2010.

Underfunded Team New Zealand nearly folded after the 2013 debacle, but has bounced back with a remarkably fast boat design that includes a radical cycling grinding system, and spot on crew maneuvers.

We didnt sail particularly well today but it was great to walk away with another win.

At the start of Race 8, Burling wheeled underneath and then alongside Oracle, forcing the USA boat to slow.

In Race 7, Spithill turned up just a little bit as the catamarans approached the starting line, perhaps fearful of being early across the line as he was in Races 1 and 5, both losses.

The tough-talking Australian and his crew will need to find something special to repeat that feat, after making significant changes in the last week to their space-age catamaran to try to match the New Zealand boat's superior speed.

Team New Zealand, the hard-luck loser to Oracle in 2013, gained during a wind shift on leg four of the sixth race and passed Oracle in the matchup of 50-foot foiling catamarans.

Such head-to-head duels can often determine the outcome of America's Cup clashes, with Team New Zealand establishing an early lead which they never relinquished.